The Aerial Horizon
Forget where your feet are and simply enjoy the view.
Waking from a Dream
We emerge from the shadows of our pre-dawn departure and bask in the glancing rays of light that skim across the aerial horizon…Sunlight catches in the mist and forms a sundog that blurs our view of the horizon as a glint of light catching on a groggy eye’s lashes might distort one’s vision of the morning while waking from a dream.
Harbinger of things to Come
One look at the contrail in front of us tells us all we need to know…while we continue to experience the calm of our predawn cruise, we witness the tangible signs of turbulence ahead…SEAT BELT sign, ON.
The Warming
When the temperature gauge reads minus fifty-four degrees outside and everything takes on a blue hue as we look through our polarized windscreen, the sense of awe is amplified as the creeping sprawl of exposed earth fills our perspective with a sense of warmth…each fractal expanse of canyon and ridge electrifies our senses as the space between color and temperature is etched out on the aerial horizon.
Comfort in the Waning Light
It’s an unspecific sort of feeling one has when they feel at ease, but don’t know why…In the afterglow of the last beams of molten sunlight caught suspended in the thick evening air, this unspecified emotion is visualized…looking away from the sunset and into the approach night, we experience far more than a sunset as we bask in the comfort of the waning light.
Longing
It’s a place that I have never visited, but long to do so…Monument Valley is a holy place where the spirit of the earth is revealed in exposed cores and eroding mesas that appear as mysteries to the traveller, written histories to the geologist, and earthly temples to the enlightened.
Marbled Earth
From the Paria Plateau and the Vermillion Cliffs to the Grand Canyon, Marble Canyon twists and meanders along the edge of the Painted Desert ever exposing layers of color and age to the passerby. As it expands and pours into the Grand Canyon, it reveals the heart of the high desert plain splayed open in colorful crumpled ribbons of earth.
Entering Clark’s Fork Canyon
East of Yellowstone, we take a turn toward Clark’s Fork Canyon…The winds and clouds normally conspire against us and views of Yellowstone prove elusive, but today the clouds part as round the bend and the winds drive our course toward the heart of Yellowstone.
Turbines and Velvet Landscape
Harnessing the power of wind as it sweeps across a velvet landscape, wind turbines align in the Northern Oregon where tendrils of the Columbia grip the landscape and add contours to the rolling hills.
The Sense of Illumination
In a frenzied swirl of unsettled air, high above Frisco, Texas, wisps of cloud move in every direction…Moisture trapped beneath that layer creates the perfect translucent canvas on which to paint the beams of light that penetrate the chaos…Passing through this space, the rays of light and mist rapidly disappear as we descend and lose our perspective on the scene. The magical sense of illumination remains fixed in our memories, as our view gives way to the dim of the evening light.
Kicking Up in the Grasslands
Crossing the grasslands of South Dakota, what looked like an innocent line of stratiform clouds begins form into something else…The horizontally blowing vapor takes a turn, kicking up into delicate vertical spires along a neatly formed line of cloud…To us, this was nothing but an interesting pattern blowing up off the earth; given enough energy before the sun vanishes over the horizon, these delicate spires may become a violent line of storms and pose a different challenge for the aviators who pass behind us…the sky is ever-changing, and our attention constantly shifts between appreciation of the beauty and vigilance toward the potential threats along our path.
Alternatives
Instead of making a wasteland in search of energy, making energy in the midst of a wasteland…When we have the power to passively collect the energy that radiates through our universe, destroying even a small part of our world for the sake of producing energy doesn’t seem to make much sense anymore. Ivanpah Solar Power Plant.
Between The Rims
One of the few places on the planet where the space “in between” is more breathtaking than any object imagined by man. Happy May Day.
Cacophony
One of my favorite words…Though noiseless, sometimes in the heavens there is no better word to describe the jumble of light, vapor, and sensations that we experience…It is simultaneously indescribable, disconcerting, soothing, directionless, and completely logical…It is multi-sensory abstract art…and its free.
Abstract Flows of Cuesto del Bosque
Along the rocky wooded coastline of Baja California Sur, Mexico a lake forms in an isolated valley of the Cuesto del Bosque…its isolation makes the algae saturated water seem more striking in the abstract patterns formed in its flows, as though a purposefully hung canvas of vibrant oils contrasting with a subdued textured wall of umber.
Palo Duro Canyon – A Marker on the Plain
Blown Away
The morning fog appears to be blown away by the wind turbines lining a ridge of the Appalachian Mountains along the border of Virginia and West Virginia…The low clouds are trapped by the ridges, creating patterns that trace each hollow and valley.
Approach Lights
When the energy in the heavens exceeds the atmosphere’s capacity to contain it, things can get interesting…As we emerge from the clouds, lightning bolts illuminate the airfield as if billion-gigawatt-approach lights. The violent energy laden storms surround the airfield on three sides, creating a dramatic light show throughout our eventual approach. While all this made for good sport, the skill and care displayed by the air traffic controllers in bringing all of us through the mess was admirable.
Out of the Blue
Isla Espirito Santo rises out of the blue of the Sea of Cortez like a painted creation popping out of a solid blue canvas. The lateral ridges and stripes of varying hues of ochre, brown and orange create a fascinating texture that draws our attention away from the peninsula beyond its shores while the aqua blue and green edges along the shallow beaches provide a warm welcome from distant travels.
The Long View
Taking the long view of the Grand Canyon, we follow the lines of each minor canyon, river and stream finding that nothing is as it seems…rivers curve away and streams continue on, canyons cut in and out, and colors layer and blur… Still we interpret all these moving parts as one thing…a singular holy place…a grand canyon.
Descending Out of a Painted Sky
Art and technology become one as the graceful lines of a Boeing 777 aircraft fade into view…descending out of a painted sky.
The Aerial Horizon – Photography
The Aerial Horizon 